Hesitation
by WritingMonkey
Summary: One Shot. Another shooting aftermath story. In this one, Ashley got shot, and wakes up to find Aiden by her bedside. What happens from there? Did she chose Aiden, Spencer? Was she the only one hurt? Read and find out.


Whoa, hello, white light. Damn why is it so bright all of a sudden, wait, where the hell am I? This room, it looks like, like a hospital room. Oh fuck, now I remember, I was shot, great. Just great, well at least I'm awake now.

"Aiden?"

"Yeah baby, I'm right here."

"Aiden? Where's Spencer, is she alright?"

"Spencer? Ye-yeah, she's fine. I told her to go home, that I was going to wait until you woke up."

"Why, why would you do that!? Damn it Aiden, I love her!"

"What? Ashley, I love you, I thought you felt the same, that's why I told her to leave. _I love you._ Doesn't that matter to you?"

"No Aiden, it doesn't, as far as I'm concerned, you can go to hell for what you've put us through already, not to mention the shit we now have ahead of us thanks to you. Just leave me alone Aiden, I can't even look at you right now."

"Fuck you Ash; I thought I meant something to you. Fine, you want to go be a little dyke, whatever, I don't care anymore. I'm done with you."

"Ass-hat."

God damn it! What the hell happened? I need to see Spencer, tell her everything will be fine. Now if I could just get out of this stupid bed…Nope, that's not happening. I guess I got shot in leg by the looks of things, well I guess it could've been worse. But still, I need to get out of here! Where's that stupid nurse's button?

"NURSE!"

I swear I must've yelled at least four times before a very irritated middle-aged woman came into my room.

"Yes Miss, what can I do for you?"

"Can you call Spencer Carlin for me; I need to see her, like as soon as possible."

"Do you…wait, Carlin, Carlin, Spencer…I believe she's a patient here Ms. Davies. A few rooms down if I'm not mistaken." 

"What!? Is she alright? What happened to her? I need to see her!"

"Whoa, calm down. She's resting fine; I believe she only suffered minor injuries, grazed by a stray bullet or something. I can go check on her for you, but you are in no condition to be going anywhere right now, understood? If she can, I will see if she would be willing to come visit you."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you. I promise I won't be such a bitch anymore if you do this for me, please."

"We'll see…"

God damn it I HATE Aiden. He said she was fine, how could he lie to me like that. Spencer was hurt too, oh God, I hope she's okay. What the hell is taking that nurse so long?

"You want to tell me why I had to wheel my ass in here just to keep Donna from sedating you to shut you up?"

"Spencer! Wait, who's Donna?"

"She's the nurse who was threatening to sedate you unless I came down here to see you; apparently you wouldn't shut up about needing to see me or something. So what did you want Ashley, Aiden already told me you didn't want to see me, so why am I here?"

Fucking Aiden, I swear I will castrate that boy if he ever messes with me again.

"Look, I don't know what he told you, but whatever it was it was a lie. I don't love him Spencer, I love you."

"Okay."

"So, um, are you alright, why are you in a wheel chair?"

"Oh, right. Well, in all my rage and anguish the other night, I didn't actually move from my standing position when the bullets started flying. You got shot when Aiden jumped to push you to the ground. Me on the other hand, I just stood there, and I guess a bullet hit a flag pole or something and then made its way around my ribs. So now I have this big jagged scrape along my right side because it went into the skin and muscle but it just coasted around the rib before bouncing off and out. So yeah, it hurts to stand right now so hence the wheel chair."

"But you're okay? You're going to be fine?"

"Yeah, I should be. It'll be a nasty scar, but it won't be the most painful memory of the night."

Wow, that hurt. I need to make this right, I love her, she needs to see that.

"Spencer, I'm so sorry. I don't know why I hesitated to say anything. I love you Spence, there is no one else for me, no one could stand in the way of how I feel."

She's smiling, yea! That has to be a good sign right?

"I love you too Ashley. I have a lot of things running through my mind right now though, so I'm going to roll back to my room for a bit. I'm not mad at you or anything, I just need to be alone, absorb everything. Can I stop by later?"

"Definitely Spence, I'll see you later."

Well, I think that went well. I saw the pained expression on her face as she wheeled herself out of the room. I could also tell she had been crying sometime earlier. Whatever Aiden said to her must have put her through hell, but now it's all straightened out. Maybe she left so soon not because of us or me, but because of her injury, maybe it's worse then she's telling me. Oh God, the look on her face, she was clearly hurting with only that little movement. Damn it, I need to find out what happened. Where's that button again?

"Yes Ms. Davies?"

"Hi Donna, thank you so much for convincing Spencer to come see me."

"You're welcome, though I'm afraid it took a lot out of her, she nearly passed out as soon as I helped her back into her bed. But she'll be alright."

"That's actually what I wanted to know about. She told me the bullet just like followed along her side and then hit a rib and was out of her, just like not really being shot, but grazed her. Was she telling me the truth? Because she looked like she was in a lot of pain when she was leaving, I just need to know how she is, please?"

"In the interest of avoiding your annoyances and your bitchiness I will tell you a little, not so much to break the confidentiality, even though I doubt she would throw a fuss over that. Was she telling you the truth? Yes and no?"

"How do you mean?" 

"Yes, the bullet grazed her side and followed along until it hit a rib and then shot out her skin again. So in that sense it wasn't much damage, just badly torn skin and muscle. But the rib, it was broken, pieces shattered, she needed surgery. The doctor's had to cut into her lung to remove the fragments and fix the rib. So as of right now, her whole right side of her torso is in extreme pain, that's why she can't stand. And she is having trouble breathing, with the recovery and all. But she will be okay. So you needn't worry so much."

"Since only my leg is injured, could I get out of bed soon and go visit her?"

"I'll have to talk to your doctor first but I don't see why not. You're already healing nicely, seemingly fine health wise, other than a healing hole in your leg. After she rests some more, I'll come back to help you into a wheel chair and take you to see her. On one condition though?"

"Donna, anything for you, just name it."

"Don't bug me until I come back for you. Unless you are in extreme pain or in dire need of something I don't want to hear a peep out of you. Ms. Davies, you have got to be one of the most difficult patients I have ever had, so please, make my day a bit easier. You've been given your pain meds already so you should be fine."

"I'm flattered I have made an impression on you Donna. You've got yourself a deal; you won't even know I'm here."

"Hopefully…"

Okay, this is sooooo boring. Who knew being stuck in a hospital bed could be so alarmingly dull. Sure, I have a TV, but there isn't anything interesting on. I probably would be bugging the nurse, but I can't do that, so I have nothing to occupy my mind. I really hope Spencer's fine. And I can't believe Aiden! How could he do that to me, to us? First he says he's in love with me, which I guess wouldn't have been as bad, but then the way reacted when he found out I would never feel the same? ASS!!! It's like he just did it to mess with me, so try and have me again, I bet he didn't even really mean it. Great, now I'm getting angry again. Christ, when is Donna going to come back, come on how much rest can a person need? Well, she is recovering…but come on! I need some entertainment, anything. This is taking too long.

"Ms. Davies, I must say I am impressed, I didn't think you could hold out this long."

"DONNA!!! Thank God, I was going crazy in here, I totally underestimated myself. So, can I go see her now? Please, please, please?" 

"Calm down, I'll be right back with a wheel chair and then you can see Ms. Carlin. Just keep you're energy in check, I don't want you hurting yourself. No overdoing it, understood?"

"Yes, yes, yes, I just want to see Spence."

Finally, man who knew being pushed around wasn't as fun as it seems. I'd do it myself if I knew which room was hers, but no Donna insisted on 'escorting' me there herself. She's probably afraid I'd try and get up and run there myself, which okay, I might. Now we were at last in Spencer's hospital room, she was still lying down; it looked like she had just woken up. She looks so pale, so fragile.

"Spence…"

"Ashley, what are you doing here, I thought…"

"I wanted to come see you. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry, I just, didn't want you to worry. It's my fault; you shouldn't have to deal with any of this."

"None of this was your fault Spence, you shouldn't think that. And I care about you, so much, I was just so worried. I had to practically beat the info out of Donna just to tell me what was really going on. I don't think she likes me very much. I'm just glad you're okay."

"Well I don't think I'll be getting up for a while, why don't you see if you can hobble up here. Come on, we have bad TV to look forward to."

She makes me so happy. I'm so glad we're both going to be okay, though I think it may take her a lot longer to recover than I will. I mean, I just have a hole in my leg, and its already healing fine. Her on the other hand, she has a broken rib, a damaged lung, and scars and stitches and surgery and bruising to still heal from. She's going to be in pain for a while. But I'm going to be here every step of the way.


End file.
